Surah 21, Al Anbiyaa (The Prophets) Mecca 73
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Translation:
إِنَّ
هَذِهِ أُمَّتُكُمْ
أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً
...
21: 92. Verily, this Brotherhood of yours is a single Brotherhood,
... وَأَنَا رَبُّكُمْ فَاعْبُدُونِ ﴿٩٢﴾
and I am your Lord and Cherisher: therefore serve Me (and no other).
Inna hathihi ommatukum ommatan wahidatan waana rabbukum faoAAbudooni
وَتَقَطَّعُوا
أَمْرَهُم
بَيْنَهُمْ...
21: 93. But (later generations) cut off their affair (of unity), one from another:
...كُلٌّ إِلَيْنَا رَاجِعُونَ ﴿٩٣﴾
(yet) will they all return to Us.
WataqattaAAoo amrahum baynahum kullun ilayna rajiAAoona
Other Translations:
Asad
21:92
VERILY, [O you who believe in Me,] this community of yours is one single community, since I am the Sustainer of you all: worship, then, Me [alone]!
21:93
But men have torn their unity wide asunder, 90 [forgetting that] unto Us they all are bound to return
Pickthall
21:92
Lo! this, your religion, is one religion, and I am your Lord, so worship Me.
21:93
And they have broken their religion (into fragments) among them, (yet) all are returning unto Us.
Shabbir Ahmed
21:92
Verily, O Mankind! This community of yours is one single community, since I am the Sustainer of you all. So, serve Me alone!
Amatul Rahman Omar
21:92
(Mankind!) surely, this your religion is the one single religion (of all the Prophets), and I am your Lord, so worship Me.
******************************************************
Asad’s comments:
89 After calling to mind, inverses 48-91, some of the earlier prophets, all of whom stressed the oneness and uniqueness of God, the discourse returns to that principle of oneness as it ought to be reflected in the unity of all who believe in Him. (See 23:51 ff.)
90 This is the meaning of the idiomatic phrase, taqatta'u amrahum baynahum. As Zamakhshari points out, the sudden turn of the discourse from the second person plural to the third person is indicative of God's severe disapproval - His "turning away", as it were, from those who are or were guilty of breaking the believers' unity. (See also 23:53 and the corresponding note 30.)
Amatulla’s Comments:
I disagree with Asad in his interpretation that what is meant here is disunity only among believers, meaning among the followers of Prophet Muhammad. I believe the way these few verses sequenced, the entire humanity is meant here and the creation of unnecessary division and dissentions. There is One God and one humanity; there should be unity in the fundamental ideas of living and society and the pursuit of doing the right things and purpose. The divisions are created often on the smallest of issues or relatively unimportant issues.
Ali’s comments:
2749. Ummah: this is best translated by Brotherhood here.
"Community", "race", and "nation." and "people" are words which import other ideas and do not quite correspond to "Ummah".
"Religion" and "Way of Life" are derived meanings, which could be used in other passages, but are less appropriate here.
Our attention has been drawn to people of very different temperaments and virtues, widely different in time, race, language, surroundings, history, and work to be performed, but forming the closest brotherhood as being men and women united in the highest service of God. They prefigure the final and perfected Brotherhood of Islam.
2750. God’s Message was and ever is one; and His Messengers treated it as one. It is people of narrower views who come later and trade on the earlier names, that break up the Message and the Brotherhood into jarring camps and sects.